Opening Reception: Written Matter

Date:

Fri, Aug 31st, 2018

Time:

6:00 pm

Description:

Join us for the opening reception of "Written Matter" on Friday, August 31st, 2018, 6-8pm

The Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art is pleased to present an international group exhibition featuring artists Dora Economou (Athens); Jack Jeffrey (Vancouver); Natalia Calderón (Xalapa); Roberto Comini and Valérie Bourdel (Marseilles); and Gary Pearson (Kelowna). The exhibition, guest curated by Gary Pearson, is centered on the relationship between language (text) and materials (matter), in support of each artist’s aesthetic, conceptual, research and production affiliations, with direct and indirect deployment of textual language and materials.

Practice and theory, writing and materials, audience and artist discourse, are central to this exhibition.

The language of contemporary art, how it is written and read, is multilingual and only apprehended and fully understood in translation. The collapse of discipline boundaries, and the questioning of language and material specificity in contemporary art over the past few decades have been lauded by some and derided by others. Yet others still, either overlook, or opt to defer a reading of specific individual languages and materials, that may be germane to the complex of an art work.

The exhibition Written Matter will foreword and further the argument that one reads art from an outward appearance, its external material and sensorial identity inward, and beyond, to expose other
languages, other meanings, often more remote and complex. The thesis of this exhibition argues that a close reading of the “writing” of the artwork is essential to unravel its many meanings and qualities.

This exhibition will be up until October 13th, 2018.

Many of the artists will be in attendance at the opening reception. This event is free and open to the public.

The Alternator would like to acknowledge the support of the Consulado General de Mexico en Vancouver.